Sufra: No Cutlery Please!

Frying Pan Adventures

Compare eating etiquette across three countries of the Old World – India, Ethiopia and Sudan – each of whom look at food not just as what they eat, but as the utensil itself.

Despite modern influences, many Old World cultures still leave their silverware aside and encourage eating with hands.

On this comparative food walk hosted in collaboration with Dubai Design Week, we stroll through our favourite food street of Karama and sample three different meals all consumed without cutlery. We’ll tuck into a bowl of slow-cooked foul at a Sudanese gem, cleanse our palettes with Indian street food served through a window and savour an Ethiopian home-style supper with an unmistakable motherly touch.

We will dissect these meals as we experience them, trying to understand how differences in table setting, edible cutlery, and etiquette affect our behaviour, build a unique mood and help connect all who partake of these rituals. Come with your appetites and “design hats” on.

About Frying Pan Adventures Frying Pan Adventures are explorers, storytellers and curators whose hunger is best sated in the underbelly of the city, away from the sheen of modern buildings and world records.

Their food and storytelling experiences are designed for the culturally curious. They are connected through a common thread of authenticity and knowledge, be it a 4 hour walking feast through local communities, a picnic in the desert conservation reserve or a cooking session around the native Emirati cuisine.